Scaled Heart: A SciFi Alien Romance (Project: F5 Book 2) Jade Waltz (good books for high schoolers .txt) 📖

faded to lighter green on his chest and along the inside of his limbs. Gray stripes created attractive lines on his limbs, highlighting his muscles and giving the illusion of strength. His grey anemone-like hair paired with his smile made him look approachable, perhaps even playful.

“Great!” He stood, grabbing the cups. “I will put these in the dirty bin by the drink dispenser and take my leave. Your shift is coming up and I have taken enough of your time.”

Six

USTHU

Yesterday could have gone better.

I didn’t understand why our mentors were so harsh with Kaica. She had done the best she could with what she had without training on the finer details of our biology.

The Aldawi hadn’t known what to do with Xylo and Odelm and had been more concerned about the change of command than two Circuli bleeding out on the throne room floor. From what I had gathered, Sovereign Zirene had sent all his soldiers to pursue Selena and they had nearly trampled the fallen.

We were lucky Kaica had arrived when she did and taken over, or neither would be alive right now.

I needed to apologize for Xylo’s fathers and make it up to her somehow. She may not be my nestqueen, but she was a coworker and a female—which meant she deserved respect.

It wasn’t fair that the love they had for their sons was blinding them to her value.

Walking into the infirmary with a drink in hand, I was surprised to see Kaica sitting at Xylo’s desk with her head laid on her crossed arms instead of her usual spot in the lab. Her translucent silver hair formed a curtain over her shoulders, hiding her teal-scaled shoulders.

She had fallen asleep during her shift.

The stress of the situation had finally gotten to her.

Glancing at our patients’ readings posted on the wall display, I sighed. They were still stable; everything was alright.

There was no use in waking her up, not when I was here to take over the shift. Soon, the others would arrive to make a plan to correct the patients’ backs.

Placing my drink on my desk, I grabbed an extra blanket from the infirmary closet and draped it over her shoulders. I knew demihuman temperatures ran cooler than ours and in my experience with dealing with Selena, they got cold quickly.

Carefully, I stepped back and retrieved my drink, turning toward the office door.

Chyox stood in the doorway, stunned, looking at me as if I had done something wrong.

His violet thread touched my mental shields, requesting to speak. Instantly—and almost instinctively after all the years I’d worked side by side with him—I accepted, knowing he wanted a private connection.

“What happened to her?” he demanded, his mental voice strained with worry. “I don’t see a nestqueen thread between the two of you, so you aren’t hers. What are your intentions?”

“I walked in to find her like this. Knowing how much pressure she has been under lately adjusting with the new environment, I didn’t want to wake her.”

“So you haven’t asked her to be your nestqueen?”

I sipped my drink as I tried to piece together why he was suddenly interested in whether I was involved with a female.

“You want her, don’t you?”

He stepped back, shocked that I had dared to ask him such a personal question, even though he had broached the subject first.

“Something about her is… appealing.” He glanced at Kaica’s sleeping form behind me. “I can’t keep her out of my thoughts. Every time I remind myself that she isn’t Circuli, I only reinforce how much I don’t want her to be.”

“So you are only attracted to her because she isn’t Circuli?”

“I didn’t say that,” he snapped, angry red tinting his coloring. “I didn’t know that there could be a female with such a great understanding of the universe. She may not be Circuli, or as old as us, but I have always wanted a nestqueen with her character.”

“Even though she is not only a demihuman, but a member of the Fab Five? You know she could probably flay us in our sleep without waking us, right? That doesn’t scare you?”

“Should it? Probably.” He shrugged, walked over to a lobby’s couch, and sat down. “She doesn’t scare me as much as her siblings do. I wouldn’t even think of the possibility that any of them might accept me. Besides, if I am honest, the underlying danger surrounding her only adds to her allure. I would never have to worry about her safety while I am away. If we ever need to fight side by side, she could probably take care of us both. I know it’s unnatural for us to be the one who needs protection instead of doing the protecting even outside of the Warrior Caste, but she is not a Circuli. The Fab Five has grown a repetition in the galaxy to be feared of, and deserves it, but working beside Kaica, I have learned she isn’t some crazed female who is always on the attack—she is much more. We need to stop looking at her as such and view her as an individual. Kaica doesn’t need us to be her shield physically, but we can still guard her mentally from the universe.”

I followed his lead, sitting across from him with my drink in hand.

“Since you are open with me, I shall be open with you. I am looking for the best time to approach her. I’m wondering whether I need to offer her a gift like her people do when they are interested in someone. Or do I try to send signs that I want her and push her to invite me into her clan?”

“That is what I am wondering too.”

“What if she only wants one of us? Her sister, Bryeca, seemed interested only in Qraniebi. If Kaica doesn’t want a large clan like Selena, then I don’t want us to compete to be her nestmate. The last thing we need is hurt feelings and awkwardness within our team.”

“Then what